Random D-tech musings

Why is it, that when I climb out of the pool, I wait (im)patiently for up to five minutes for my CGM to receive its next reading, when I could just as easily get it from a fingerstick in five seconds?

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Why do all the big D-vendors and D-researchers save their big announcements during ADA Scientific Sessions week, when it’s more likely to get buried under other D-news? There are fifty-one other weeks of the year in which the spotlight can be all their own.

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I believe the conventional insulin pump is nearly as obsolete as the pagers upon which they were modeled. In my opinion, we’ve already seen the last of the commercially-available “open-loop” devices.

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If Afrezza works as well as it sounds with its “crude” dosing, perhaps we can do away with our high-tech, high-precision gear altogether. Wouldn’t that be nice?

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When companies marry the pump with the CGM, the meter, and the algorithms, it forces patients need to make a four-year commitment to the entire apparatus. This, as an example, stalls the faster-evolving and one-year-upgrade-eligibility of a CGM toward a drawn-out four-year track, inevitably compelling those who buy-in to eventually wait in the cobwebs (see: Animas Vibe CGM algorithm). We need to divorce these functions into separate physical modules that speak a common language. That way, upgrades can go through an easier regulatory process, distribution can be simplified, and manufacturers can phase out their older devices sooner. The concept of “integration” needs to disintegrate.

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It’s great to see BD finally getting involved in evolving diabetes care, though I still can’t figure out the real benefit of an infusion set that squirts insulin sideways.

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How is it possible that technology has evolved toward color device displays, yet our medical adhesives are stuck in monochromatic white?

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When I was growing up, “sharing” meant I would selflessly allow someone else to use my favorite toys while I looked for something else to keep me occupied. Nowadays, the concept of “sharing” epitomizes selfishness — whether in CGM data or social media, sharing tends to benefit the owner of the story or data being shared, not the recipient. Where did things go wrong? It’s become totally backwards.

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If the Dexcom can’t tell quite how LOW I am, how does it know whether or not I’m going lower?

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Sometimes at night I plug my Android phone into my Dexcom charger and my Dexcom receiver into my phone charger. The micro-USB ports look identical. Then I wake up with a charged Dex and a dead Droid. Pisses me the eff off. WHY?!?

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And finally —

I’m going to be guest-moderating the#dsma chat tonight on Twitter (9 PM EDT/6 PM PDT)! Come on over and join in the fun!

“Crude” is my own term — pretty much meaning “Imprecise”. The concept of “block dosing” is no different than the whole-unit doses from my older insulin pens, where I would take one unit for every 15 carbs. The net result, for me, is that I would size my meals to be in 15-carb increments; I even did this for the first year or so on the pump, out of habit. But with Afrezza (as I understand it, anyway) you can say that “this meal warrants about four units, and get away with it. The precision to get 3.6 units just isn’t needed.

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